edX Adds 15 American and International Universities

Massive open online course (MOOC) provider edX has added 15 universities, more than doubling the number of participating universities for a total of 27. Universities welcomed into the initiative in the latest round of expansion include institutions from the United States, Asia, Australia, and Europe.

In addition to offering free courses to anyone with an Internet connection "edX is building an open source educational platform and a network of the world's top universities to improve education both online and on campus while conducting research on how students learn," according to information released by the consortium. "To date, edX has more than 900,000 individuals on its platform."

"As we continue to grow the xConsortium and offer courses from institutions as diverse as our global community of students, we are moving forward with our mission to reimagine education," said Anant Agarwal , president of edX, in a prepared statement. "These schools, with their unique faculties and student bodies, will help us conduct collaborative research on best practices which improve education online and on campus."

The newest members will begin offering courses on the edX platform late this year or early 2014.